On Wednesday, March 3rd, at 8 p.m. (live stream on sportdeutschland.tv, broadcasts start at 7.15 p.m.), the handball sports club Hamburg will continue with the next top game at home: this time, VfL will be the guest at the Hamburg sports hall Gummersbach, who is currently in second place in the table and only suffered three defeats this season.
It was only last Friday that HSVH extended its lead over their direct neighbors Gummersbach with a commanding 40:29 away win against HSG Konstanz. With 33: 5 points, the team of coach Torsten Jansen has four plus points on the account than the North Rhine-Westphalia, which recently lost significantly at the bottom TuS Fürstenfeldbruck and received the third defeat of the season. However, HSVH also played one more game. Looking at the more significant minus points, the Jansen team is two points ahead of VfL. With a win, the Gummersbachers could draw level with the HSVH after minus points and the three top teams in the league would move closer together.
Painful appearance in Fürstenfeldbruck: Hermann injured
After VfL Gummersbach missed out on a direct return to the top last season, the long-established club definitely wants to make up for a return to the first division this season. Although the balance in February was rather mixed due to the two defeats against the promoted Großwallstadt and Fürstenfeldbruck, the Oberbergische were able to score important victories against the promotion rivals VfL Lübeck-Schwartau (31:29) and TuS N-Lübbecke (27:24) beforehand. The Gummersbachers are currently in second place in the table with 29: 7 points – closely followed by third-placed TuS N-Lübbecke (27: 9), who was able to come closer again due to the last mistake of VfL in Fürstenfeldbruck.
The team of coach Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson, who can look back on an impressive career as a player and won the Champions League with FC Barcelona, lost significantly in Bayern with 32:25. In addition to the defeat, the Gummersbachers had to deal with another shock last Friday: top performer and VfL top scorer Alexander Hermann was seriously injured during a defensive duel and suffered several fractures of the nasal bone, a slight fracture of the frontal bone and a severe concussion. The 29-year-old backcourt player, who has already scored 89 goals (all from the field) for VfL, will be out for a long time. It is questionable whether it will even be possible to play again this season.
VfL Gummersbach has the statistically best second division goalkeeper
An outstanding weapon of VfL Gummersbach stands between the posts: Goalkeeper Matthias Puhle has the best statistics of all second division goalkeepers. With 193 saves and a quota of 37.33 percent held balls, he leads these two rankings according to the official HBL statistics. HSVH keepers Jens Vortmann and Jonas Maier have so far recorded 178 and 118 parades and have a rate of 28.85 and 26.05 percent. From summer onwards, VfL will have to plan without their guarantee of success in goal. Puhle leaves the professional handball business at the end of the season and joins the fourth division OSC Rheinhausen in his home country. The Serbian goalkeeper Tibor Ivanisevic, who currently plays for HSG Wetzlar and is known as a seven-meter killer, should inherit him in the next season. Ideally in the first division, because VfL has formulated promotion as a clear goal.
First victory against Gummersbach in sight
HSVH suffered their first of only two defeats this season in the first leg in November against VfL Gummersbach. In a very intense and competitive top duel at eye level, HSVH lost just 25:26 in the SCHWALBE arena. Above all, the two goalkeepers Jonas Maier and Matthias Puhle stood out at the time. Maier won the goalkeeper duel with 17 saves (four more than Puhle) in a direct comparison and achieved a strong quota of 39.53 percent held balls in the game. The VfL keeper had almost the same rate of 39.39 percent. However, due to too many technical errors, several goals conceded into the empty goal and unused chances in the final phase, HSVH had to admit defeat against Gummersbach.
So far, since the restart, the Hamburg team has not managed to win against VfL Gummersbach. Last February, however, a 23:23 draw was made, although VfL went into the game as the big favorites. Until the point was shared against Lübbecke last weekend, this was the last point that HSVH gave in the Hamburg sports hall. The last home defeat is now more than a year ago: At the beginning of February 2020, HSVH was subject to TuS Ferndorf. The series of unbeaten games is now to be expanded against Gummersbach.
HSVH has to prepare for a vicious former German champion on Wednesday evening who wants to make up for the past bankruptcy with two important points in the top game. With two defeats and one draw, VfL is in 5th place in the away table, HSVH is still unbeaten in the Hamburg sports hall and is also in first place in the home table.
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